Walking into the Mercury Cafe, 2199 California St., is like stumbling into a midnight screening of a Tim Burton movie. It’s all red light, rich velvet curtains, wobbly tables and colorful characters. A bar, a dining room and two ballrooms host concerts, dance lessons, readings and more. But within this gentle, zany vibe is an environmental consciousness that would make Al Gore blush. Trees are planted outside; living walls of vines cool things in the summer, let in heat during winter; the toilets have hand-washing sinks above the tanks, allowing gray water to flush; two windmills and several solar panels sit on the roof; the food is local and organic. No TVs, no Wi-Fi.

GRILLED: MARILYN MEGENITY

Marilyn Megenity, 59, has owned the Mercury Cafe for 35 years. She is soft-spoken, wispy, almost shy, the opposite of your idea of a female barkeep. More Marianne Faithfull than Lili Von Shtupp. She was born in Denver, went to George Washington High followed by three years at Metro. “My psychology professors refused to look at astrology,” she explains. “I was insulted by their lack of curiosity.” A small inheritance led her to buy a small restaurant in Indian Hills called The Westerner — which was really the first Merc. “We were too much for that town,” she said. Soon she was in Denver at the Mercury Cafe, in various locations until she bought the spot she’s in now some 20 years ago. She is Denver’s Earth Mother on Earth Day. She gets herself a glass of water and gives me a glass of Caprock Vodka, made from organic grapes in western Colorado.

BH: You drink alcohol?

Megenity: A little bit. I work a lot and I love my work, so I have to pace myself on those kinds of things. I realized in 1979 that this would be my life’s work.

BH: What’s fun about this?

Megenity: How many people get to dance at work? If you are going to own a restaurant, you’re going to work a lot. So the things that you love in your life have to be in your restaurant.

BH: Who comes here?

Megenity: Everyone. Little children and their parents and their grandparents who used to come to the Mercury Cafe when it was at 13th and Pearl. It’s multigenerational and multicultural.

BH: What do you think about Denver?

Megenity: I love this city. It’s magical and it’s open to people realizing their dreams. I have seen it in others. In Patricia Calhoun. In John Hickenlooper. Maybe in you.

BH: Is Earth Day passe?

Megenity: It is not passe. I just don’t think things are moving fast enough. We need to be better if we are going to live here. You and I can recycle all we want, but we’re not going to be OK unless the leadership moves forward, quickly, in every country. I think in the ’80s and ’90s we ridiculed Earth Day, and a generation grew up not knowing how serious it all is.

BH: What do you drive?

Megenity: A 1982 Mercedes diesel. About 300 miles a year. I use old vegetable oil for fuel.

BH: Does it smell like French fries?

Megenity: It smells better than gasoline.

BH: Are you always trying to make the right choice, the right decision?

Megenity: Yes. And if I am making the right decisions for myself, then my business should reflect that.

BH: Is it more expensive to have a “green” business?

Megenity: Oh, yes. It’s twice as expensive.

BH: Are you a capitalist?

Megenity: Oh, no. I am an anarchist. But I live in a capitalist system, and I have to participate. I have to pay my taxes and pay the workers.

BH: But you are not wealthy.

Megenity: Mostly, I am thrilled to pay my bills, and in restaurants there are lots of bills. But I am the wealthiest woman in the world, actually.

BH: How do you keep the energy?

Megenity: Work creates its own energy.

BH: How do you describe your personal style?

Megenity: I buy a lot of recycled clothes because I cannot stand to be in a department store.

BH: What’s your greatest fear?

Megenity: Global warming.

BH: What trait don’t you like in yourself?

Megenity: I am overly analytical.

BH: Do you get health insurance for your employees?

Megenity: No. I have tried but I cannot.

BH: What phrase do you overuse?

Megenity: “There’s too much carbohydrates on that plate.”

BH: When and where were you happiest?

Megenity: Last Sunday night, dancing the jitterbug to the Queen City Jazz band.

BH: Do you think life is fair?

Megenity: No. I think life just happens sometimes, and we’re living in a polluted world.

BH: Do you like to argue?

Megenity: Oh, yes. I prefer to say “discuss.”

BH: It’s hard to change someone’s mind.

Megenity: I think modeling changes people.

BH: Do you take time off?

Megenity: Not very much. I can’t ride on airplanes because of the pollution they make. So I go into the Colorado mountains.

BH: Where would you like to live?

Megenity: I love the house I live in, 10 blocks from here. When I am too old to walk, maybe I’ll live on the roof here.

BH: What’s the lowest depths of misery?

Megenity: I have had my heart broken. Bad. More than once.

BH: Who are your favorite writers?

Megenity: E.L. Doctorow, Toni Morrison, Barbara Kingsolver. I read a book a week. All day Tuesday, I stay in bed and eat and read.

BH: TV?

Megenity: I have never owned a TV. And I don’t have a cellphone or a computer. If I sit down in front of a computer or television for 20 minutes I get sick. I have to lie down for two hours. It’s the light.

The nice thing about Dutch ovens is that their iron is of one weave, so to speak, with nothing but metal all around, over and above, whatever’s cooking in them. So hot coals on their noggins is a no-never-mind.

The annual hop harvest is just around the corner in Washington state’s Yakima Valley, the agricultural area where 75 percent of America’s hops are grown, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.